The Big Sick

Mal D'amour

"Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gordon fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings"--www.imdb.com.

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The Big Sick is based on the true story of Kumail Nanjiani and his real wife Emily V. Gordon, their romance and his realization of how much he loved her when she was in an induced coma because of a life threatening infection. I really enjoyed the movie. Check out the bonus features.

This isn't a comedy and I never find racism laughable. It is a coming of age film about someone who should have grown up in his teens but only did it in his twenties and uses his culture as an excuse. A full grown man who is ashamed to date a Caucasian woman. Life slaps him with reality and he finally grows up. I think it was more therapy for the "actor" then entertainment for the audience.

So, depending upon your age, you may or may not find this comedy "funny." If you stick around long enough for the chuckles.

Nothing really funny about the premise: young wannabe stand-up comedian trapped by family and ethnic traditions (arranged marriage the chief one) stumbles and bumbles his way into--and out of--romance with a young woman who stumbles almost as much as he does. He's got an excuse--he's fairly new at it--she has no excuse, she's already divorced. When illness strikes, she stops stumbling--she's flat on her back and unconscious. Laughing Yet?

The best bits are shared between this sad-sack and his parents--and him and HER parents.

It's "modern" comedy in these ways:
1. He's an odd-ball. (the last 25 years or so, TV and movies have been FULL of odd-balls. Once upon an era, Lucille Ball was one of the few. Imagine that!)
2. He's non-white (Pakistani); she's Anglo.
3. The "humour" comes through dialogue, rather than situation (nothing funny about her illness) and certainly not physical slap-stick, most of which ended with Chevy Chase comedies back in the 1980s and Jim Carrey in the 1990s. Miss 'em.
4. "Sophisticated" repartee between could-be lovers does NOT transcend basic inability to communicate effectively.

This film had it's mellow chuckles in among the seriousness of relationship blues, illness and ethnic associations with ISIS or even just with arranged marriages among the family.
I did not like it as much as many of the reviews, however it did have its charm. Glad I did not go and pay to see it and not much of a special feature.
It does have Aidy Bryant (current SNL cast member) appearing as one of the comics looking for the big break.

Quotes

I grew up in Pakistan. And people are always asking me, what was that like? Really not that different from here. I mean, we played cricket, which is just a spicier version of baseball. And we prayed a lot. Well, not a lot. Just five times a day. And we marry someone our parents find for us, arranged marriage, you know? But for me, it was probably that we got episodes of knight rider a little bit later. And by "little bit later," I mean we just got episode two.

I was in bed with my girlfriend and I was trying to mansplain to her that, you know, we-we are on one little rock orbiting one star in a galaxy of a billion stars in a universe full of a billion galaxies. You know, so I forgot your birthday. Who gives a shxt? Like, you are cosmically overreacting to this.
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But yelling anything at a comedian is considered heckling. Heckling doesn't have to be negative.
=So, if I, if I yelled out, like, "you're amazing in bed!" That'd be a heckle?
Yeah. It would be an accurate heckle.
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They called me Chashmullee.
-What is that?
It roughly translates to "dweeb."
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We haven't even had sex again yet.
-Yeah, I'm just not that kind of girl. I only have sex once on the first date.
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Oh. I wonder who that could be.
- Yeah.
Let me check.
- I don't know. I'm guessing it's a young, single Pakistani woman who just happened to be driving by our house, which is on a cul-de-sac.

I never knew that Pakistan had the world's largest irrigation system.
-Yeah, something like 14 million hectares are being irrigated.
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What's the whole thing with Muslims growing beards, anyway? It's such an arbitrary thing, right? Like, who decided that, oh, we have to have beards.
-Oh. But you'll do... So, there's a billion of us and you're the only one with the truth. Is that right? So, the sun is just shining down on you right now. It's just parting.
You know, I have to tell you something, bhai.
-Here we go. Yeah.
I've been dating this girl.
-Sure.
She's white.
- Oh. I thought you were gonna say you were involved in a hit-and-run or you got caught forging some checks, but a white girl?! … Listen, I understand. You're in America, and you want to mow a few lawns and see what it's like, but eventually you have to marry a Pakistani girl.

You know what we call arranged marriage in Pakistan, Emily?
-Marriage.
Okay? We just call it marriage. There's another type of marriage. It's called love marriage and that's bad. My cousin, Rehan, married an Irish woman and he was kicked out of the family. Nobody is allowed to talk to him.
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People say, "Sam... You're gonna love it. This kid, you're gonna have a kid, he's gonna be your best friend." A best friend that-that pukes on you and shxts everywhere and is constantly screaming. I already have friends like that.

When I was a kid, piece of chalk and a pavement, and that's your entertainment. Hopscotch. Tic-Tac-toe. Throw the chalk at Jimmy. There you go. Three games right there.
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I want to name my kid void so he won't be able to cash any of his paychecks. "I'm sorry, sir, this says void on it." "But that's my name. Curse you, father!"
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Why did you bring me here if you wanted me to not have an American life? We come here, but we pretend like we're still back there. That's so stupid.
- Don't you talk to your mother like that.
You don't care what I think. You just want me to follow the rules. But the r... the rules don't make sense to me. I don't pray. I don't. I haven't prayed in years. I just go down there and I play video games.
-You don't believe in Allah?
I don't know what I believe, dad. I don't know. And I can't marry someone you find for me.
-And why not?
Because I am in love with someone. I am. Her name is Emily